The merciless African sun is slowly giving way to the cool breeze of the evening, and yet another long day comes to a blissful end in the dusty little town of Sekoru in a desolate corner of the Ethiopian Rift Valley. The handful of mishit betoch (nightclubs) interspersed along the length of Sekoru’s only paved road, only minutes ago glaring in its quite stillness, become abuzz with lively activity. A bartender in one establishment eagerly displays his dazzling assortment of imported spirits, while a scantily clad waitress suggestively flashes her wares in another.Almost as if on cue, columns of foreign men come marching down from their hilltop encampments, invading every joint in sight in search of a good time. These, however, are not the colonizers of old (in fact, Ethiopia remained a singularly free country throughout the continent’s dark history of colonialism), but rather, a new breed of pioneers. The hardened, but eager, faces of these expatriates signify the rise of a new kid on the African block – the People’s Republic of China.

These men are vastly different from the conquerors who scrambled for Africa’s riches centuries earlier. Instead of the safari suits and velvet top hats that their European predecessors donned, the Chinese frontiermen of the 21st century come decked in loose overalls and somber hardhats. Unlike the infantrymen who arrived bearing rifles and muskets before them, the newcomers are contractors, technicians and engineers equipped with cranes and bulldozers. Nor do they live in exorbitantly fancy villas and seclude themselves in exclusive neighborhoods. When not toiling at their work sites or resting in their Spartan dormitories, most prefer the same (cheap) pleasures that their local counterparts enjoy.
It is men like these who have breathed life into the economies of little towns like Sekoru and surrounding areas, not only in their patronage of local hangouts, but in the big things they are accomplishing all around them. In this remote corner of the Great Rift Valley, several dozen Chinese engineers and construction workers are busy constructing East Africa’s biggest hydroelectric dam, Gilgel Gibe IV. Upon completion, it is expected to supply the urban centers and rural peripheries of southern Ethiopia and even neighboring Kenya, Djibouti and Sudan. This dam will not only bring electric power to hundreds of villages for the first time, but it will also be an indispensable catalyst for rapid industrial growth in the region.

This mammoth project, jointly financed by the Ethiopian and Chinese governments and the World Bank, is merely one of many similar undertakings that have sprung up all across Africa in the past decade. In its unfettered ambition to join the highest ranks of world powers, China has set its sights on Africa, aiming to establish deep, friendly relations with the continent. In countries like Angola, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Sudan, the Chinese government has been hard at work providing much-needed developmental assistance, not only embarking on comprehensive projects to build schools, hospitals, roads, bridges and dams, but also training the robust human resources needed to maintain them. Nor is China’s largesse limited to the mobilization of fleets of engineers, architects and construction workers. The People’s Republic has had to reach deep into its pockets to finance its expensive relationship with Africa. According to the terms of a robust assistance package announced by Chinese President Hu Jintao at a summit of African Heads of State and Government in Beijing in 2006, China pledged to double aid to Africa by the year 2009 and provide $3 billion in preferential loans for development ventures, further establishing an Africa development fund expected to reach $5 billion. At this watershed event, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also proposed that China and Africa take steps to strengthen their commercial ties, bringing trade volumes up to $100 billion dollars by the year 2010. Indeed, since 2006 trade has grown even faster than the premier expected, reaching the $100 billion mark in 2008, a whooping 45 percent increase from a year earlier. According to figures released by China’s General Administration of Customs for the 2008 fiscal year, China imported $56 billion worth of goods and services from Africa, while exports to the continent reached a staggering $50.8 billion. This makes China Africa’s second biggest trade partner, behind only the United States and ahead of both Britain and France.

The benefits of closer ties with China for Africa are clear. China’s financial and technical resources allow for the construction of much-needed infrastructure, the gleaning of valuable expertise and the growth of trade and industry, among other things, all at a much lower cost than arrangements with Western countries would entail. Furthermore, the “no-conditionality” nature of Chinese assistance allows aid to be used to meet the priorities identified by African governments, as opposed to the dictates of Western governments and monetary institutions.
Moreover, China has striven to demonstrate its deep commitment not only to the economic well-being of the continent, but also to its peace and security. In the last two decades, the Chinese government has mobilized thousands of its armed forces and civilian observers to conflict zones in Southern Sudan, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo. More recently, China has deployed a formidable naval contingent to the East African coast, where piracy has threatened to cripple international shipping. All these generous overtures, however, have raised western eyebrows, perhaps because China’s newfound zeal may be reminiscent of a bygone era in which Africa was overrun by the imperial and commercial ambitions of different foreign powers. Because of a rapidly booming economy insatiable in its appetite for raw materials and markets for finished goods, Chinese multinationals have demonstrated their capacity and willingness to go to great lengths to secure both. In particular, they have demonstrated a strong desire to gain sustainable access to the sources of crude oil and natural gas in places like Angola, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea, where the culture of good governance and strength of civil institutions are still lacking in maturity. Consequently, the unrivalled spending power and political clout of Chinese businesses has occasionally bypassed the needs of local populations and served to exacerbate their already impoverished conditions. Unrestrained drilling and loose safety practices by Chinese energy companies in the oil-rich Niger Delta and elsewhere have led to the pollution of drinking water sources, dislocation of inhabitants and rife corruption.

China’s willingness to overlook gross violations of democratic practices and human rights by its African trade partners has also made it the target of much criticism. China has played an obstructionist role in the UN Security Council in implementing resolutions targeting the Sudanese government for gross violations of human rights committed by government-backed rebels in Darfur, including the dislocation, rape and mass murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians. Moreover, the high prevalence of Chinese small arms and light weapons in several conflicts zones abets the further deterioration of peace and security in Africa. Either through the medium of international arms dealers or corrupt African governments, these arms fall into the possession of rebel groups in places like the DRC, where they are used to inflict serious harm upon civilians.

In spite of all this, however, there is no denying China’s invaluable contribution to the economic development of African states and its increasing assistance in bringing about peace and security. Nonetheless, the government of the PRC needs to re-evaluate the precise nature of its objectives on the continent and the extent to which its own interests are served by maintaining the policy of near complete “non-interference” in the domestic affairs of the nations it deals with. China could play an immensely constructive role by joining the international community of nations in demanding that African governments live up to the principles of transparency, accountability and respect for human life that they supposedly espouse. Pulling the weight of its enormous economic leverage and its permanent status on the UN’s Security Council, China could exert decisive pressure to facilitate the end of some of the most tragic human catastrophes of this decade. Not only would such a strategy pay dividends in creating political stability in the states that are increasingly vital to China’s economic interests, but it would also shine positively on the image of an emerging superpower that aims to be taken more seriously on the global stage. China has the unprecedented opportunity to be the catalyst of much-needed change on a continent that has been starving for it. It is an opportunity that the Chinese government and businesses need to seize for their own interests and for those of their African friends.

http://afpprinceton.com/2009/09/how-china-is-powering-africas-growth/